I think the reason why people are privately laughing at Reese Witherspoon getting arrested is it proves she`s obnoxious. Witherspoon has a pretentious persona which she has crafted and perfected for the media and public. However, when Reese asks the police office as she`s getting arrested do you know my name? Witherspoon`s husband`Jim Toth was arrested for a DUI. Witherspoon rudeness towards the police officer illustrates some of these Hollywood celebrities believe they are above the law.
Let’s Sink Three Careers
[Blind Gossip] During a recent weekend, this multiple Oscar nominee and this one-time Oscar nominee spent some time together. They watched some sports game together, had a few meals together, and participated in a few leisure-time activities together. All very innocent, right?
Maybe not.
Multiple has a jealous male friend. He is an actor who broke into the business more than 20 years ago as a minor. Now, we’re not saying that anyone here is gay… but Multiple has had a revolving door of girlfriends, One-Time has been in few suspiciously beardy relationships, and Male Friend spends an awful lot of time in gay bars in WeHo!
The Male Friend wasn’t at Multiple’s that weekend, but he quickly found out that Multiple was spending the weekend with another man. When he found out that it was One-Time, he went nuts! He sent One-Time a flurry of threatening texts and voice mails telling him that Multiple “is my man” and that he had better stay away from or that he would tell the press that One-Time is gay!
Uh oh! But it was an idle threat, and One-Time knew it. He knew that Male Friend wasn’t about to sink three successful careers with one call. But – just to make sure – he and Multiple did a photo op together that portrays them as a couple of regular, macho guys who were doing nothing more than hanging out, watching sports, drinking beer, and talking about girls.
My Guess:
Multiple Oscar Nominee: Leonardo Dicaprio
One-Time Oscar Nominee: Bradley Cooper
Multiple’s Male Friend: Lukas Haas
First Clue: Dicaprio is a three time Oscar nominee he’s had several model girlfriends.
Second Clue:According to friends of Cooper from his university days he was actually openly gay on Georgetown campus. In addition, Cooper just got his first Oscar nomination. Cooper was also involved in a “bearding relationship” romance with Zoe Saldana. When the “contract” ended so did Cooper and Saldana’s “romance.”
Third Clue: Lukas Haas is a long time friend of Dicaprio, he’s also a former child star. Haas isn’t as high profile as Dicaprio or Cooper but he uses his connections well. Remember, Haas had a role in Dicaprio’s hit film Inception a few years ago.
Fourth Clue: There is a reference to Dicaprio’s breakthrough 1997 film Titanic which the blind item indicates if his true sexual orientation were exposed it might “sink” his career, Cooper’s career and Lukas Haas careers.
I think Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford were involved in a lesbian relationship back in the 1980s and early 1990s. Robyn was Whitney’s best friend since she was sixteen years old. Robyn was also Whitney’s personal assistant back in the day. It all makes sense, Whitney probably turned to drugs because she was struggling with her lesbian desires. Cissy Houston comes across as homophobic and extremely rude. However, I understand that Cissy is a seventy something Christian lady and I guess a woman from her generation just does not accept homosexuality.
It is interesting though, that Cissy is a “friend” of Clive Davis he was Whitney’s mentor and he came out of the closet as bisexual yesterday. Cissy certainly didn’t mind a bisexual man help her daughter rise to superstardom. Clive Davis bisexuality is no secret his sexuality is an open secret.
Homophobia in the black community is a serious issue, I am glad Oprah was not afraid to ask the question about the lesbian rumours.
However, Whitney was Cissy’s daughter and parents should at least try to understand when their child is gay. It is clear to me watching this clip that Cissy believed Robyn was a bad influence on Whitney because they probably had a lesbian romance.
On Days of Our Lives Facebook page, some fans of the American soap are furious about the gay storyline. One woman said she turns off the television set whenever Will and Sonny kiss. Another person said she doesn’t believe the gay storyline should be on television since Days of Our Lives is on during the afternoon. After I read the negative comments, I realize this gay storyline is important if one person can become more open minded about homosexuality after seeing Days of Our Lives this is progress.
I believe this gay romance between Sonny and Will is very progressive. I was concerned that Days of Our Lives producers would not allow the gay romance to have any passion. In this clip, Will’s father Lucas is struggling to accept his son’s homosexuality. Lucas argues with Sonny’s mother Adrienne about their boys dating. Lucas claims to be open minded but he is freaked out that Sonny and Will kiss passionately in public at the Horton Square.
Some fans believe the Days of Our Lives writers are throwing Lucas under the bus because he initially said he was accepting of Will’s homosexuality. Another important point to consider is, although Lucas did say he is okay with Will being gay now he has seen his son kiss another man. Lucas is finally realizing that Will is sexually attracted to other men and he wants to express his sexuality. Lucas is confused, upset, and hurt that Will is gay. I think Days of Our Lives needs some scenes with Lucas talking to Sonny’s father Justin since he is accepting of Will and Sonny’s gay relationship. I think Lucas needs to talk to another man about his feelings about Will’s homosexuality.
I believe this clip touches on the theme of masculinity. What does it mean to be a man? What is a real man? Some heterosexual men believe gay men relinquish our masculinity because we are gay. Lucas seems to think his son Will is less of a man because he is openly gay.
A few years ago, Lucas moved to Hong Kong, he might feel he is responsible for Will being gay because he lacked a male role model in his life. Lucas is not a homophobe, but he is clearly uncomfortable with his son being openly gay.
I also think Will is being a bit cruel to Lucas. It took Will a long time to accept his homosexuality so he should give his father some time to come to terms with him being gay.
I understand Will is heartbroken that Lucas does not accept him yet but his father needs time to adjust.
I think this clip is very realistic, it seems everyone in Salem accepts Will and Sonny’s homosexuality. However, we all know in the real world there is homophobia. Some people claim to be accepting of gay men on the surface. Meanwhile, when gay men express our homosexual desires then all hell breaks loose.
I hope Lucas eventually accepts Will’s homosexuality and they can go back to having a good father and son relationship.
Freddie Smith and Chandler Massey have incredible chemistry they seem so comfortable with each other.
I just checked Days of Our Lives Facebook page and the homophobic comments I have read are disturbing but not surprising. Some people are really upset that Will and Sonny are kissing frequently on their television screen. I believe this gay romance is so important because daytime television needs more diversity.
The kissing scenes are improving but I kind of wish there were deeper kisses and not just quick kisses. I think it is realistic that Will Horton’s father is upset that his son is kissing another man in a public space. Lucas is still adjusting to the fact his son is a homosexual. I appreciate that Days of our Lives is exploring an underlining theme about masculinity. I notice that the only male in Salem who is 100% supportive of Will and Sonny dating is Sonny’s father Justin. Rafe, Lucas, Brady, Bo, Roman, are the male role models in Will’s life aren’t exactly thrilled he is gay. Maybe, the male father figures in Will’s life aren’t comfortable or know how to talk to him? I notice the female family members his mother Sami, his grandmother Marlena, and his other grandmother Kate are very supportive of him being gay.
Perhaps, Lucas feels that he failed Will since he moved away to Hong Kong and wasn’t around for two years during his adolescence? I think Lucas is going to hopefully accept Will and Sonny’s romance.
[Hollywood Street King] Who am I? I’m considered a rap legend, yet I seem to have run out of ideas. That’s why even my ghost writers have proven to not be able save me.
As a rapper, I don’t appear to have much talent, and my producing abilities are no different than P Diddy’s – recycling beats, rather than creating new sounds. Despite all of that, I’ve fooled the masses – with countless fans continuing to bow down.
My new entertainment deal has landed me at the top of the earners list, and my two proteges are doing their jobs in keeping my name out and relevant. Though business is good, my rampant steroid use may be affecting my memory and focus.
My wife is quite possibly the world’s best beard, yet I’m known for sporting more make-up than she does. Inner feelings of me having a strange man-crush on my new artist is the word that’s beginning to spread. This after my last crush left me for a boxer.
My new album has become some bizarre urban myth, yet I’ve had beef with so many rappers that it ain’t even funny. That’s why my fear of one mogul led to my becoming a recluse, cause he was still extorting me long after I left that game. So, I recently called his PO to rat on his ass and hoped to get a protective order.
My Guess
Can you guess – Who am I? Dre Dre
Who is my new artist? Kendrick Lamar
Who is the one who left me? Suge Knight or 50 Cent
By Brent Lang | The Wrap – 51 minutes ago
Are there no gay movie stars?From Anderson Cooper to Jim Parsons, gay celebrities have been gently pushing open the closet door with shockingly little fanfare over the past year.
Their statements have been so understated that a recent piece in Entertainment Weekly on the new politics of being publicly gay noted, “What was impossible 60 years ago and dangerous 40 years ago and difficult 20 years ago is now becoming no big deal.”
That may be true, but there is one big exception.
In the nearly a decade since Tom Cruise won his second of two “I’m not gay” lawsuits in 2003, Hollywood movie stars remain uniformly heterosexual even as American society and public perceptions of sexuality have visibly changed.
Also read: Anderson Cooper: ‘I’m Gay’
Despite the recent matter-of-fact statements from the likes of Cooper, Parsons and Zachary Quinto, no A-list star on the level of a Brad Pitt or Robert Downey Jr. has come out, even though statistically it seems highly improbable that no major actor is gay. Meanwhile, the rumors and lawsuits that have dogged such actors as John Travolta or Cruise may lead the public to their own conclusions.
Even emerging stars like Tom Hardy, who once implied that he had flirted with bisexuality, are quick to quash the rumors if they get out of hand.
“We don’t have a leading man who is out,” notes Howard Bragman, vice chairman of Reputation.com and a publicist who has guided stars through coming-out announcements. “We don’t have anybody in a major professional sport. There is plenty of room to get further along.”
Also read: Obama’s Gay Marriage Support a Hit in Hollywood, But Will It Help Fundraising?
It seems there are still enormous pressures for big-name stars — especially those tied to romantic or action careers — to remain guarded about their sexuality.
And there’s an added element: The international market is not as accepting as America is becoming.
The movie business is a globalized enterprise, one that is increasingly dependent on foreign audiences. The question is less about America’s changing attitudes towards gays and lesbians, than the views of places like China, a country that boasts a big population of moviegoers, but one that is not exactly progressive when it comes to same-sex relationships.
Also read: Dustin Lance Black Mulls Obama Fundraiser After Shift on Gay Marriage
For the film business, not much has changed since ”My Best Friend’s Wedding” star Rupert Everett told the Daily Mail in 2009 about his coming out: “It just doesn’t work, and you’re going to hit a brick wall at some point.”
“The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business,” Everett said.
Although Anne Heche made waves when she went public as Ellen DeGeneres’ girlfriend in the mid-’90s, her career faded along with their relationship, and the major movie actors who are openly gay remain supporting actors like Ian McKellen and Quinto.
It is no coincidence that the majority of the household names who have come out publicly have been television stars. After all, from DeGeneres’ ground-breaking declaration that she was a lesbian 15 years ago up to the portrayal of a happily married gay couple on ABC’s “Modern Family,” the small screen has been one of the most open, accepting and barrier-shattering parts of Hollywood.
That may have to do with demographics. Television’s prize age group is viewers between 18 to 34 years old, and a recent Gallup poll shows that 66 percent of people in that age bracket believe gay marriage should be legal.
“Young people set the ad rates,” Bragman told TheWrap. “These were the kids that grew up with ‘Will and Grace’ and ‘Queer Eye.’ Well, you can’t watch ‘Will and Grace’ and ever be threatened by a gay person again.”
The same is not as true for the world of athletics, movies nor music genres like rap and country.
Also read: Hip-Hop Singer Frank Ocean Comes Out in Love Letter
Similarly, despite the public pronouncements of, say, Elton John and Michael Stipe, certain sectors of the music business remain stubbornly resistant to gay artists.
“There are pockets of acceptance that are more robust than others, but [coming out] is not a non-nonchalant thing,” Chely Wright, an openly gay country singer, told TheWrap.
Wright came out in 2010 to an onslaught of media attention, but also softer record sales, demonstrating that, at least in terms of country singers, there is commercial risk to being openly gay.
That makes Frank Ocean’s revelation this week that he is bisexual all the more extraordinary. Ocean is not only African-American, but he is a hip-hop singer — two constituencies that have historically been slower to accept, even openly hostile to gays and lesbians.
That may have been the reason for the unusual way in which Ocean choose to come out. Instead of issuing a statement or sitting for an interview, he wrote a lyrical blog post about his attraction to a male friend when he was 19. Wright argues that Ocean’s decision to provide such a personal look at his own sexual awakening had a lot to do with his audience.
“His constituents were a lot like mine,” Wright said. “Country and hip-hop are on the same latitudinal line on LGBT issues, so when you give the news to a fan base that might not understand, you have a responsibility to explain yourself and to explain what gay love is about. It’s not just who you have sex with, it’s who you go to a movie with or play Scrabble with.”
In contrast, Cooper, Parsons, Quinto and “White Collar”s’ Matt Bomer seemed to take pains to downplay the drama surrounding their announcements. That may have to do with the fact that being gay and a celebrity is no longer novel, but it may also be that many of them were, to borrow a phrase from Slate’s June Thomas, “openly closeted.”
That is partly attributable to the rise of snarky blogs like Gawker and Perez Hilton that both capture celebrities in private moments with loved ones and feel none of the compunction about speculating about stars’ sexual orientations that once constrained the press.
With the internet, any closet, it seems, is made out of glass.
“We live in a very transparent world,” Bragman said. “It used to be someone would say privately that they saw so-and-so in a gay bar or had sex with them, now we have text messages and emails, and that changes things.”
In turn, more traditional media outlets have abandoned the non-aggression pact when it comes to closeted celebrities. When OutWeek Magazine chronicled Malcolm Forbes’ gay lifestyle in 1990 shortly after the media baron’s death, it set off a wave of hand-wringing. But things have changed dramatically.
Media publications rushed to publish that Jodie Foster had come out of the closet when she thanked a female friend in a 2007 speech at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast, even though she never said she was gay. Foster continues to keep her sexual orientation private.
Yet the growing ease with which stars of the small screen are opening up about their sexuality may eventually inspire some of their big screen brethren, as well.
“It wasn’t that long ago that playing a gay character was practically the kiss of death for an actor’s career,” Bil Browning, founder and publisher of the gay politics and culture blog The Bilerico Project, told TheWrap.
“[That was] a concern even as recently as ‘Brokeback Mountain’ where Mark Wahlberg turned down the lead because he was ‘a little creeped out’ by the gay theme and worried about his future career. Celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris, Anderson Cooper, Matt Bomer, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are proving daily that LGBT people are simply a part of the fabric of life.”
Tom Cruise’s wife is leaving him.
A few days ago, Katie Holmes, the other half of TomKat, the mother of Tom’s only biological child, and the impetus of his notorious Oprah couch-jump, filed for divorce in New York. As Amy Argetsinger points out at the Washington Post, Holmes becomes the third Mrs. Cruise to jump ship at the age of 33 (which probably has some numerological-Scientological significance Beck would be able to explain).
About the only person surprised by this is Tom Cruise, who turns 50 today (he was born on the third of July).
Whatever went on behind closed doors, the Cruise-Holmes union seemed, to those of us following it obsessively at TMZ and Us Weekly, like a P.R. stunt. Holmes staggered through publicity appearances like a catatonic, while Cruise’s egregious and desperate determination to convince us that the relationship was legit comprised the worst performance of his acting career.
Let the record show that I’m a huge Tom Cruise fan. I love the guy. I became aware of him as an actor, as opposed to just a guy in the movies, when I went to see Interview with a Vampire. Anne Rice had been outspoken in her disappointment at the casting of Cruise as Lestat — and he wound up being the only thing in the movie worth watching. He killed in that flick. He kills in every flick. “Jerry Maguire,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Tropic Thunder,” “Magnolia,” “Collateral” — stand-out performances, all. Is he limited? Sure, but who isn’t? I may not like every movie he does (“Mission Impossible” is wretched, and “Vanilla Sky” is a train wreck), but I always like him. The guy is a movie star, plain and simple, and he’s been one for a staggeringly long period of time.
His personal life, however, is harder to get behind. It’s not so much what we know as what we don’t — or, rather, what we think we know. Yes, he’s a Scientologist … but what does that mean, exactly? Does he really believe all that stuff, or is Scientology just another high-profile acting job?
And then there’s the elephant in the room. The big, pink elephant.
The rumors have dogged him for decades now, since before he rocked out to Bob Seger in tighty-whities. That he wants to do it to for Johnny. That Mimi and Nicole and Katie were beautiful beards. That what he really desires is A Few Good Men.
If there is fire to be found in this great cloud of gay smoke, it would be remarkable. The guy’s been A-list famous since 1983, and there has been no public evidence at all, none, to support the rumors. Masseurs have not pressed charges against him; photographs of him kissing other men on the lips on a tarmac have not popped up on the Internet, unlike other movie-star Scientologists we can name. In this day and age, when so many celebrities rise and fall by virtue of a stray tweet, when everyone in greater Los Angeles has a camera phone and thus the capability to catch him in flagrante delicto, it’s almost inconceivable that he could be acting on these alleged homoerotic impulses. Either he’s straight, or he gives new meaning to the term Cruise control.
But if the rumors are true … if he does prefer the company of men … if his impossible mission is to be an openly gay action-movie star, his course of action now is clear: Tom Cruise needs to take a page from the Anderson Cooper playbook. He needs to come out, he needs to come out big-time, and when he gets hitched again, he should marry a guy.
It’s not like this sort of disclosure is unprecedented. Cary Grant confessed to bisexuality when he was an old man; so did Richard Burton. Why not Tom Cruise?
Yes, this would be incredibly brave — the sort of courage we come to expect from a man who so convincingly played Maverick and Ethan Hunt. It would also be admirable to the Nth degree. One press release would transform him from thrice-divorced Scientologist weirdo to civil rights hero and gay icon. He could live his life out in the open, and in so doing, make the world a better, more tolerant place. And instead of jumping on Oprah’s couch, he could jump on Ellen’s.
That’s if he’s gay. (Note to the attorneys for Mr. Cruise: I am merely repeating oft-repeated rumors, and this should not be read as an endorsement of them). If he’s not — if the real Tom Cruise is exactly what he’s shown us — then take note, Mila Kunis and Eliza Dushku and Amber Heard and every other hot Hollywood 20-something on the make: Mrs. Tom Cruise is a plum part, and auditions will be held soon.
By Damian Thompson
8:25PM BST 02 Jul 2012
Tom Cruise is 50 years old today. Actors and actresses who trade on their looks rarely enjoy passing this particular milestone, and Cruise has plenty of other reasons to feel miserable.
He’s stuck in rainy Iceland, filming a thriller, while his third wife, Katie Holmes, files for divorce and sole custody of their six-year-old daughter, Suri. At the weekend, his spokesman asked the media to respect the couple’s privacy. The tabloids thought about this for a split second before splashing with “TOM AND KATIE TO DIVORCE – more details pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 21.”
Why the hysteria? Cruise is one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, but he’s in the twilight of his career as a leading man. There used to be rumours that he’s gay, but no one has ever stood them up. If showbusiness reporters wanted to “out” A-list stars, which they don’t, then there are more obvious candidates.
But here’s another headline from yesterday: CULT STALKS KATIE. The “cult” is Scientology, to which Tom Cruise has belonged since his twenties. The headline comes from the Sun, whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, took to Twitter on Sunday to describe the religion as “something creepy, even evil”.
Tom Cruise is not only the world’s most famous Scientologist but also one of its most powerful operatives. Some sources claim he’s Number Two to David Miscavige, the leader of the organisation and best man at his wedding to Holmes.
For more than 20 years, the star of Top Gun has publicly saluted the Church of Scientology. His wholesome, reporting-for-duty eagerness has persuaded countless fans to try the therapeutic “auditing” courses pioneered in the Fifties by Hubbard.
Reputedly, no religion in the world extracts more money from its followers. (Many, it should be said, insist that it’s worth every cent.) Reaching “Clear”, a level of enlightenment that strips you of all inherited fears and irrational thinking, could set you back as much as £30,000 over several years. But don’t expect to hear about Xenu, the intergalactic dictator who tried to kill billions of souls by stacking hydrogen bombs around volcanoes 75 million years ago. That yarn costs a whole lot more.
In addition to the courses, you need accessories, such as an E-meter, a portable lie-detector with dials and switches that looks as if it was knocked up by BBC special effects for a Pertwee-era episode of Doctor Who.
One way to earn the money for “auditing”, as the brain-cleansing technique is known, is to work for one of the Church’s military-style organisations. It has built a Disneyfied castle in the grounds of Saint Hill Manor, Hubbard’s country house in the West Sussex dormitory town of East Grinstead. There you can see young people strutting around in uniforms that make them look like, well, extras in a Tom Cruise movie.
Tom really was the jewel in Scientology’s crown. But the question he ought to be asking himself today, as he contemplates his mid-century, is whether the scales have tipped and he’s now a liability.
From a public relations point of view, the Cruise-Holmes divorce is more than a car crash: it’s as if Xenu’s spaceship (which, according to Hubbard, looked like a DC-8 without engines) had plunged into one of those volcanoes.
Katie Holmes has filed for divorce in New York, where it is thought she stands a better chance of being granted sole custody than in Scientology-saturated California. The message sent out from her supporters is unequivocal – and one calculated to appeal to parents everywhere: she wants to drag little Suri out of the strange world of auditing, E-meters and “Thetans” – floating souls trillions of years old who inhabit human bodies.
But could Scientology harm Suri? Scientology’s online enemies have been quick to jump in. Tony Ortega, editor-in-chief of New York’s Village Voice and a ferocious opponent of the Church, reckons that “what may have convinced Katie to run was the frightening prospect that faces all Scientology kids beginning at six years old – a form of interrogation known as ‘sec [security] checking’ ”.
Ortega has posted on the Village Voice website a list of questions drawn up by Hubbard entitled, “Children’s Security Check Ages 6-12”. It begins: “What has somebody told you not to tell? Have you ever decided you did not like some member of your family? Have you ever gotten yourself dirty on purpose?”
There’s no evidence that Suri was going to be “sec checked”. A spokesman for the Church said yesterday that he’d never come across Hubbard’s document except in material from the group’s critics (though he didn’t deny its authenticity). But ex-members of the group who grew up in it claim to have been subjected to inquisitions when still very young – the aim, they say, being to extract information about their parents.
Scientology often has to fend off accusations of spying on members and former members. There were reports yesterday that sinister men in sunglasses were stalking the New York apartment where Katie Holmes has taken Suri. Nothing to do with us, said the Church.
It’s also claimed by critics that Tom Cruise himself is closely monitored by his Scientology minders. Again, it’s denied – but one can understand why Miscavige might regard his star turn as a dangerously loose cannon these days.
Remember the time he jumped up and down on Oprah Winfrey’s sofa to declare his love for Katie? Scientologists squirmed. The Church also threw a fit when the gossip website Gawker hosted an “indoctrination video” – intended for internal consumption only – in which Cruise spoke passionately but incoherently about the meaning of his religion. (Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, has flatly refused to take it down.)
“When you’re a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one who can really help,” Cruise said.
Cruise also features prominently in the biggest single PR disaster to hit the Church of Scientology since Hubbard unveiled his “spiritual healing technology” in 1950. This was an episode of South Park entitled “Trapped in the Closet” in which the character of Tom hides in Stan’s closet and flatly refuses to come out.
Far more damaging than the references to rumours about Cruise, however, was the episode’s animated Xenu, based on Hubbard’s own esoteric teachings and captioned, “This is what Scientologists actually believe.” Which it is. Or, to be more precise, it is a secret imparted only to the tiny minority of Scientologists who have handed over truckloads of money to reach Operating Thetan level III.
But that doesn’t mean ordinary Scientologists don’t know about it. As recently as a decade ago, if you mentioned the top-level teachings to a church official, you would probably cause massive offence: such knowledge was so potent, hinted Hubbard, that it might even kill the person who misused it.
In an age of Gawker, YouTube and hundreds of anti-cult blogs, however, all of Hubbard’s revelations – plus allegations of serious financial mismanagement by rogue Scientologists – are available to any would-be recruit with access to the internet.
Scientology’s own websites have also been hacked into by the internet-based activist group Anonymous, members of which have staged demonstrations against the Church’s alleged policy of “disconnecting” members from their families. This loosely organised but savage mockery of Scientology drew furious responses from its lawyers – but to little effect.
It’s worth noting, though, that Anonymous only started its cyberwarfare in response to the Church’s clumsy attempts to suppress the Tom Cruise video in which the star gushed so embarrassingly about the efficacy of Scientology at the scene of road accidents.
David Miscavige’s policy of cultivating Hollywood must have seemed inspired when posters of Cruise hung on the walls of millions of teenage girls. But that was before the actor embarked on a policy of marrying progressively younger women (the last two Mrs Cruises were each born 11 years after the previous one, meaning that number four should be 23) and saying things that confirmed suspicions that he isn’t the smartest Thetan in the volcano.
Put it this way. Xenu was once the most closely guarded secret in the Church of Scientology. Today it yields 451,000 results on Google – thanks, in part, to the film star Miscavige once described as the world’s most dedicated Scientologist. And now it looks as if Rupert Murdoch is using the divorce as an excuse to declare war on the organisation. Watch your back, Tom.
From gay pride promotions in six cities to piggybacking on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, Warner Bros.’ marketing campaign for Magic Mike has relied on unconventional means to whip up interest in the male striptease dramedy.
So far, it seems to be working. Many box office observers say they won’t be surprised if the film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, overperforms when opening at the domestic box office on June 28, much as Warners’ big screen adaptation of Sex and the City far exceeded expectations on the strength of females.
PHOTOS: From ‘Showgirls’ to ‘Magic Mike’: Your Guide to 50 Years of Stripper-Themed Movies
And, also like Sex and the City, Magic Mike has sparked heated interest in the gay community, thanks to the buff and scantily clad cast, including Channing Tatum (the movie is loosely based on his days stripping), Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyferand Joe Manganiello.
Warners has aggressively gone after this demo, paying for a Magic Mike float in the West Hollywood gay pride parade earlier in June and doing gay pride promotions at similar events in five other markets, including San Francisco and New York.
Enlisting the help of the Karpel Group, which specializes in marketing to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community, Warners helped secure features in the leading gay press. Manganiello appeared on the cover of Out Magazine, whileThe Advocate published a piece on McConaughey.
Gay moviegoers can certainly move the box office needle, but it is females who will fuel most of Magic Mike’s earnings.
Initially, Warners found there was trepidation among grown women about openly embracing a movie about male strippers. Tatum in particular has became a leading star in terms of romantic dramas, but now, his female fans are being asked to accept him in an entirely different role.
Everything changed this spring when Fifty Shades of Grey burst onto the scene. The novel, which is being adapted into a feature by Focus and Universal, suddenly made it okay for women, and moms, to talk more openly about their sexuality.
PHOTOS: ‘Magic Mike’ LAFF Premiere
“The timing couldn’t have been better,” says Warner Bros. president of worldwide marketing Sue Kroll. “When you have the Today show covering Fifty Shades of Grey, that’s as mainstream as it gets. You can never plan for a cultural phenomenon like this.”
The heart of Warners’ female-targeted campaign has centered on encouraging females of all ages to do something for themselves and go and see Magic Mike with their friends. The push seems to be working. Interest is keen among females both under and over the age of 25, according to pre-release tracking.
And Magic Mike has generated a huge conversation on social media (Warners has made an enormouse push online in marketing the film). Research firm Fizziology says three percent of the conversation about the movie also mentions Fifty Shades of Grey, and that many of those commenting are moms.
“Anytime you see two or three percent, you are seeing a trend, says Fizziology COO Jen Handley, who founded the company with Ben Carlson. “And I’m surprised by just how bawdy the conversation, considering this is an audience that tends to be more reserved. They are just putting it all out there.”
Carlson adds: “In our three years, I don’t think we’ve seen a conversation about a movie that has been this explicit and sexual in nature.”
Online ticket service Fandango reported on Tuesday that Magic Mike is already generating 36 precent of all pre-sale business, a sure sign that females are making set plans to see the film (there also was big pre-sale business for Sex and the City).
